Judicial, administrative, legislative, and juristic activity, so far as they are directed to the adjustment of relations, the compromise of overlapping claims, the securing of interests by fixing the lines within which each may be asserted securely, the discovery of devices whereby more claims or demands may be satisfied with a sacrifice of fewer-these activities collectively are the legal order. It is one side of the process of social control. It may well be thought of as a task, or as a great series of tasks, of social engineering; as an elimination of friction and precluding waste, so far as possible in the satisfaction of infinite human desires out of a relatively finite store of the material goods of existence. Law is the body of knowledge and experience with the aid of which this part of the social engineering is carried on.

The volume by Professor Brown is the sixth edition of his publication of 1912. It falls into three divisions: (1) statement of principles; (2) principles in application; (3) outlook. His statement of principles is founded upon a survey of the development of legislation and of the background of national life and thought of England in the nineteenth century. The principles which he finds underlying legislation are (1) the worth of man, and (2) the unity of society.

Mr. Goiten develops the thesis that modern law is the outgrowth of the primitive ordeal. In Greece and other places resort was made to the ordeal in cases where legal control failed. By reference to the principle that in cases where prevailing controls are inadequate man resorts to more primitive methods he argues that the ordeal must have preceded law as a form of control. The most important distinction between the orIdeal and law is that the one is prerational while the other is rational. This chasm between the prerational and the rational is bridged most clearly in the case of the Greeks, to whom particular attention is paid. The volume is suggestive if not always convincing. The value of its materials is lessened by the absence of references. Short bibliographies on jurisprudence, psychology (including psychoanalysis), anthropology, primitive life, and classical archaeology are included. On the whole, one cannot regard this volume as sound either in conclusions or method. JAMES ALFRED QUINN

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

The Psychology of a Musical Prodigy. By GÉZA RÉVÉSZ. International Library of Psychology, Philosophy, and Scientific Method. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1925. Pp. ix+ 180; illustrated. $3.75.

This monograph by Professor Révész, who is himself a highly trained musician as well as a very reliable psychologist, is a contribution of the

highest order. It sets a good model for procedure. Its analysis of the musical intelligence throws much light on the inadequacy of a mere I.Q. It makes fundamental contributions to the theory of the nature of musical development and of musical art. It is a great human document.

The subject of the monograph, Erwin Nyiregyhazi, is to all accounts a genuine musical prodigy. He differs, however, from some other exceptional musical talent in that he is not one-sided, but possesses a wellbalanced musical mind. He is rated by the formal tests in general intelligence as three years ahead of his age. But the report indicates that he is so far superior in musical intelligence that very few of the greatest musicians of the age have attained such resourcefulness and grasp of the musical situation as this boy had at the age of eleven.

Besides being readable and well-illustrated, it will find a permanent place in the libraries of musicians and students of human nature.

C. E. SEASHORE

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

The British Labor Movement. By R. H. TAWNEY. New Haven: published for the Institute of Politics by the Yale University Press, 1925. Pp. 189. $2.00.

Labor Relations in Industry. BY DWIGHT LOWELL HOOPINGARNER. Chicago and New York: A. W. Shaw Co., 1925. Pp. xvi+553. $4.00.

Report of an Investigation by John Dickinson and Morris Kolchin with Reference to Certain Matters in Controversy before the Governor's Advisory Commission on the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry, New York City. Edited by LINDSAY ROGERS. New York: published by the Commission, 1925. Pp. xi+164. Paper. Apply.

State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand. BY WILLIAM PEMBER REEVES. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1925. Vol. I, pp. xii+391, with charts and two maps; Vol. II, pp. vi+ 367. $8.00.

There is no visible diminution in the rate at which new books appear dealing with particular cases and aspects of the labor problem. None of these four books is of value to sociologists except indirectly, as the source of material. Mr. Tawney's book is composed of lectures which he delivered at the Williamstown Institute of Politics in August, 1924. They

afford an interpretation of one great national labor movement from the point of view of a "participant observer." Four of the six chapters, however, consist briefly of the author's rationalizations of what he understands to be the official position of the British Labor Party on certain outstanding issues.

Mr. Hoopingarner has written a textbook designed for use in college courses in personnel administration. It affords a comprehensive presentation of the latest thought in the field in clear but elementary form. The book embodies a sociological point of view to a marked extent, particularly in the chapters "The Psychology of the Worker" and "The General Problem of Control." There is an extensive classified bibliography.

The report of the Governor's Advisory Commission on the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry of New York City consists of an excellent selection and interpretation of factual material. Not the least valuable feature of this report is a summary of the purposes of the investigation and the methods used in gathering the data, written by Mr. Rogers, secretary of the Commission.

Mr. Reeves's State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand is a survey of social and industrial legislation in the states named since 1881. The treatment of the subject-matter appears to be reasonably comprehensive and authoritative. There are chapters dealing with women's franchise, preferential voting, the land question, the labor question, old-age pensions, liquor laws, and the exclusion of aliens and undesirables.

FLOYD N. HOUSE

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Social Pathology. Crowell's Social Science Series; edited by Seba Eldridge, Department of Sociology, University of Kansas. By STUART ALFRED QUEEN and DElbert Martin MANN. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1925. Pp. xxi+690. $3.50 plus postage.

The writer on any field of social problems has the difficult task of selecting subjects and methods of treatment. When the book is intended as a text for classes in colleges or universities the task is even more difficult. One cannot do everything in a book of seven hundred pages. As a consequence of the selection necessary, a number of phases of social pathology have been omitted, the most important being the whole subject of crime, except as it is discussed in the chapter on the difficult child. One is led to wonder, since the phases of social pathology considered in the book are

chiefly concerned with dependency growing out of personal demoralization, social disorganization, economic maladjustment, and natural catastrophes, if the chapter on the difficult child does not belong rather to the delinquency aspect of social pathology. Practically no reference is made to the historical origin of institutions for the abnormal members of society. Doubtless the omission was due to the fact that one of the authors already had a book entitled Social Work in the Light of History.

The authors have taken a decided step forward in one method of presentation of their subject. Chapters are opened with cases in which the problems are seen in the flesh and blood of actual persons or families. This is an excellent way of presenting a problem to the student concretely and interestingly. Then follow statistics on the causes of the problem, so far as statistics are available. Next follows a brief discussion of methods of prevention, and at the end of each chapter is a list of projects for further study. The chapter concludes with a bibliography, from which in a few instances the writer has noticed serious omissions. For example, the absence in the bibliography of the chapter on unemployment, of Lescohier's important little book, The Labor Market.

The style of the authors is simple and clear; the method of presentation marks a step forward, in bringing under scientific control the great body of information on social problems, especially in introducing discussion with cases.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

J.L. GILLIN

The Scientific Study of Human Society. By FRANKLIN HENRY GIDDINGS. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1924. Pp. vi+247. $2.00.

The nature of this book is indicated by the opening paragraph of the author's Preface: "My purpose in this book has been to indicate wherein and to what extent Sociology is indubitably a scientific study of Human Society. To this end I have undertaken to describe strict methods that sociology can avail itself of, and to point out precautions and limits which must be observed in the use of each.

In carrying out this purpose, Giddings has written chapters on "Societal Patterns," "Societal Variables," "The Scientific Scrutiny of Societal Facts," "The Pluralistic Field and the Sample," "The Study of Cases," "The Validity of Inference from Societal Experimentation," "Exploration and Survey," and "The Measurement of Societal Trends

and Energies," together with three other chapters of less obvious methodological significance. One of the most interesting and original features of the book is a "categorical scheme of societal genesis," intended to be a rigidly logical, and, to a certain degree of subdivision, exhaustive outline for the classification of social facts. As would be expected by those familiar with Giddings' earlier writings, considerable emphasis is placed upon statistical procedure; there is, however, a careful analysis of the respective methodological rôles of case study, classification, and statistical method.

The author's presentation of his fundamental propositions is somewhat impaired by the tendency he displays toward the elaboration of some of those propositions through the use of sweeping generalizations of a factual and ethical character. This tendency is especially marked in the chapter "Societal Telesis." It may also be remarked that many contemporary sociologists and social psychologists will refuse to accept the author's distinction between social psychology as a discipline concerned with the behavioristic interaction of intimates, and sociology or societal psychology as a discipline concerned with interaction in larger groups.

This book is a contribution to a phase of sociology in which further research has been urgently needed, and as such it will be studied with interest by both disciples and critics of the Giddings school of sociological theory. The author has presented illuminating though elementary illustrations of most of the particular methods of investigation which he recommends.

FLOYD N. HOUSE

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

An Introduction to Modern Social Problems. By PHILIP ARCHIBALD PARSONS, PH.D. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1924. Pp. xiv+288. $2.50.

This book is designed for use as a text for college classes and is essentially an introduction, general and elementary, treating in Part I of barbaric foundations, migrations, the beginnings of civilization, historic "elements in the modern social problem," conflicting aims in modern society due to conflict in inherited ideals, aspects of the social problem, and acute manifestations of social maladjustments. Part II outlines remote causes of social problems in (1) new knowledge about man and the world, (2) the discovery of new worlds, and the industrial revolution; as more immediate causes: (1) shifts in the population, (2) transformed means of